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Courthouse Update / August 21, 2017 / The Day of the Eclipse

Jeanette Fournier “Song of Spring”

On this auspicious date, Bryan Memorial Gallery’s curators installed the Second Segment of Vermont Landscapes at the Lamoille County Courthouse in Hyde Park. It had been seven months since the prior installation, which was well received to the point that the Courthouse invited Bryan Memorial Gallery to refresh and re-install the paintings, with some more appropriate for the fall and winter months ahead.

So on a day when just about everyone was giddy about the Eclipse of the Moon, Gallery Manager Tom Waters filled his truck with 37 paintings by 18 artists and returned to the now familiar but still hallowed halls of the Courthouse. Among the artists were three watercolorists new to this show: Lisa Forster Beach of Stowe, Kathrena Ravenhorst-Adams of

Kathrena Ravenhost-Adams “Winter on the Farm”

Northfield and Jeanette Fournier of Littleton, New Hampshire. Most of the artists previously in the exhibit had returned with new paintings. Some didn’t have new work to offer, which presented the curators with their first challenge – to make that which was not new look new.

Here is where the flexibility and majesty of the Lamoille County Courthouse comes into play. The building sings. It is lyrical to the point that a painting can be moved and look as good in the second space as it did in the first. It can even look new all over again. Different lighting or wall color can contribute to the viewer’s observation of something they hadn’t seen in the painting the first time.

Lisa Forster Beach “Golden Vermont”

With the last installation, the curators had noted that paintings with animals in them had a particular fascination for some of the Courthouse guests, and so they made sure there were several more this time, including two bright bird paintings by Jeanette Fournier. Many of the artists offered paintings of fall and winter scenes: Marilyn James’ “October,” Lisa Beach’s “Golden Vermont,” and John Clarke Olson’s “Winter Barns,” among them.

For us at Bryan Gallery, returning to the Courthouse felt like familiar experience, like an extension of what we normally do, adding a special dimension to the Day of the Eclipse. Many people will remember this day for a long time, but especially for us at Bryan Memorial Gallery, we will remember the particular satisfaction of returning to the Courthouse to share artwork and artists with a wider community.

More photos and the original post of the Courthouse Gallery can be found here.